


Resurrection

by sunryder



Category: DCU, Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, fluff and nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 14:33:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18033521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunryder/pseuds/sunryder
Summary: Eight years it had taken them. Eight years to gather up the scant particles left behind after Superboy Prime had beaten Kon literally to dust. Eight years designing a doorway through the multiverse, creating a tracking system that could find the match to those leftover particles. Half of that time had been setbacks from the Justice League interfering on the assumption that Lex was trying to summon an army from another dimension, plus more time when Lex had to kill at least a dozen scientists-turned-villains when they decided an army sounded like a good idea.Eight years, three months, four days, sixteen hours and forty-two minutes since Kon Luthor had vanished on a bloody breeze and now Lex was going to get his son back.





	Resurrection

The portal looked like a bastardized entrance to the Phantom Zone. It still crackled along its thready edges, but the portal was blue and looked like shattered glass instead of a pristine window into another world. If you listened beyond the beeping of the thousand monitors making sure they weren’t about to rip a permanent hole in the space-time continuum, it sounded like a summer storm beating against weak windows.

 

Also, the portal had been built in the basement of a backwater LexCorp lab instead of the Watchtower, but that was neither here nor there.

 

Eight years it had taken them. Eight years to gather up the scant particles left behind after Superboy Prime had beaten Kon literally to dust. Eight years designing a doorway through the multiverse, creating a tracking system that could find the match to those leftover particles. Half of that time had been setbacks from the Justice League interfering on the assumption that Lex was trying to summon an army from another dimension, plus more time when Lex had to kill at least a dozen scientists-turned-villains when they decided an army sounded like a good idea.

 

Eight years, three months, four days, sixteen hours and forty-two minutes since Kon Luthor had vanished on a bloody breeze and now Lex was going to get his son back.

 

He was.

 

It didn’t matter that the portal to the dimension where substantial testing said Lex’s son was had been open for nearly ten minutes with only the vaguest signs of activity on the other end.

 

The scientists were getting anxious at the periphery of Lex’s awareness. You’d have thought that professionals would’ve learned that sometimes experiments required a little patience. As far as Lex was concerned, the multiverse door was staying open until someone from the Justice League turned up to investigate the massive power requirements, smashed their way through Mercy and LexCorp security, and tore the portal down with their bare hands. Kon was getting every last that Lex could give him possible chance to step through.

 

And if they failed, Lex had secondary sites where more doors could be built within the month. Now that they had a lock, Lex didn’t care how many cities he blacked out or how nervous artificial holes in the multiverse made the physicists about the structure of reality, he was going to do this over and over until his son stepped through that door.

 

Lex could hear one of the junior scientists – only two PhDs – fretting at Dr. Harker, the mother-of-three Lex had entrusted to see this project through without getting distracted by thoughts of world domination. Harker told the boy to shut up unless he had something useful to say about the energy levels. (It had only taken one picture of Kon giving Lex a literal flying tackle of a hug to bring Harker on board, despite the risks).

 

Her presence meant Lex could be wholly concerned with tracking the shadows he could see moving on the far side of the door. There had been some trace of motion immediately after the door was first opened, presumably someone on the other side making sure creatures weren’t going to start popping out. This ripple of shadow was the only thing since, and Lex caught himself beginning to hope. The shadow stopped at what Lex’s brain wanted to insist was a few feet away from the door, merging with another shadow for a long moment, then separated from that only to merge with another, and another again.

 

Hugs. Someone was dolling out goodbye hugs.

 

Finally, that singular shadow came towards the portal, looming large against the shattered glass between them and though Lex couldn’t tell for sure, he liked to think that it never broke its stride as it stepped home.

 

The geneticist in Lex was fascinated that for all Kon had ended up with every inch of Clark’s height, some of Lex’s build had crept in and made him just a hair leaner, enough to make him look like a powerful human instead of a god. A human with Clark’s black hair, Lex’s curls, Clark’s smile, and Lex’s eyes ignoring the scientists who were all staring at him slack-jawed while he shrugged a duffle off his shoulder and strode forward to wrap Lex in a hug that made Lex feel more safe and complete than he had since he was in his early 20s running around with a farm boy that Lex hadn’t yet realized was lying to him with every breath.

 

But none of that mattered when Kon squeezed him so tight Lex felt his ribs flex. He ran one surprisingly soft hand over the back of Lex’s skull, stroking his parietal bone like other people ran their fingers through people’s hair. “Hey, Dad,” was murmured in his ear and Lex Luthor gave in to tears.

 

They were just for a moment, of course. Mercy soon had them both bundled out of the lab where Lex had been sucking up a small industrialized nation’s worth of the electrical grid and to the getaway jet with the specially equipped med bay prepared for all potential universe-hopping ailments. (He may have given in to his paranoia in stocking antibiotics and radiation treatments, but there was no telling what Kon might have been up to.) As it was, Kon hopped onto the med bed with the same good humor as he had the first time Lex had forced him to get a check. His warm smile drained the tension from the bundle of medical personnel still standing on the other side of the plane.

 

They burst into action as Lex raised an eyebrow at his son and Kon winked back. He knew full well that his battered, alternate-universe Superman suit and Kryptonian bulk were making the LexCorp employees nervous. But leaning back on his hands, grinning at everyone, and kicking his feet like he was still fifteen managed to trick these obscenely brilliant scientists into thinking he was harmless. It was a choice Kon made to keep them all calm. While most parents world probably lament the time lost and wonder what terrible experiences had made Kon so cautious, Lex couldn’t articulate the relief that his son had finally figured out how to play the game.

 

There were about 500 scientifically-oriented questions that Lex ought to be asking, but the first one that tumbled out of his mouth was, “Where did the gauntlets come from?”

 

They were, quite obviously, of Wonder Woman origin and Kon just grinned. “There’s a universe out there where everyone’s genders are reversed.”

 

Lex didn’t demean himself by asking, ‘what?’ like one of the junior scientists who was supposed to be running tests on the tachyon particles Kon was emitting.

 

“Superwoman. Wonder Man. A Batwoman who’s not the redhead.” Kon paused then declared, “Alexandra Luthor.”

 

Kon had that smirk that meant he wanted someone to ask if Lex was bald there as well. Instead, Lex quirked an eyebrow made entirely of implanted hairs and asked if Kon had slept with his counterpart.

 

Kon’s laughter drowned out the scientist’s gasps and stutters. “Damn straight I did. Since she’s me, Supergirl told her friends all about it and I worked my way through the entire Titans roster, a chunk of the League, and like a dozen Amazons before the multiverse shuffled me off again.”

 

“You slept with the alternate universe version of yourself?” The questioning scientist sounded horrified by that, while the boy who’d been distracted earlier looked duly impressed and like he’d be happy to take a ride himself.

 

“Dude, I slept with the alternate universe version of almost everybody at one point or another.”

 

“Never Batman?” Lex guessed.

 

Kon confirmed with a tongue click and finger guns. “I would’ve done it for curiosity’s sake if I’d ever come across a version of the Bat who didn’t look like they were just waiting for an excuse to kryptonite me. I can thrust through the threat of death, but it’s a little imminent for me when the Bat is involved.”

 

“He really is your son,” Dr. Harker said, staring at Kon instead of her readouts.

 

“I did put out a press release about paternity when we first found him, you know.”

 

“Being told is different than hearing him talk about sleeping with different versions of himself like it’s completely normal.”

 

“Our general sluttiness _would_ be what convinces people that I’m yours, wouldn’t it?” Kon laughed.

 

“I’ve been told it’s a surprisingly defining characteristic. Are we done here?” Lex turned back to Dr. Harker, taking his eyes off Kon for the first time since he stepped through the doorway between multiverses. Consequently, his voice lost its softness.

 

“According to our equipment, this is the Kon-El who originated in this universe.”

 

“Do you have any other tests you’d like to run?”

 

“‘Like’ isn’t the right word. I’d _like_ to fill in a hundred different gaps in our knowledge of the multiverse, space, and Kryptonian biology. I am, however, scientifically satisfied with the results of our current analysis. If we didn’t have your verification on his identity I would quiz him on random historical facts to be certain that his understanding coincides with events that occurred in our universe, but quizzing him on personal facts as far as you know them will be more effective.”

 

“Good, because I probably wouldn’t have been able to answer questions about history. They didn’t really focus on implanting history when we were in the lab.”

 

Lex dragged Kon out before the scientists could start grilling him about what growing up in a literal tube had been like. The jet where the medical interrogation had occurred was probably much closer to Metropolis than it should have been, but Lex had wanted Kon back in their actual home as soon as possible. (Kon was impressed by how quickly Lex’s scientists had mothballed the site in preparation for League activity. When he told them so they’d all looked like they couldn’t tell if he was joking.) It was a quick ride to LexCorp towers where the scientists who’d bought Kon home – and a few who knew nothing of the project and thus could independently verify their results – could run even more tests and make sure Kon was in good health after his universe travels. Rather than subject his kid to more science, Lex ignored them all and took his son straight to the penthouse.

 

Kon kept pinching himself throughout the short trek, because apparently the only thing he needed to make all his dreams come true was eight years of universe hopping to pay for them. After finding out about his parents but before getting sucked through the multiverse door, Kon had not-so-secretly wanted a family. Sure, his family was pretty damn messed up and spent their time trying to kill each other, but Kon still wanted them to be his.

 

Ending up sprawled on Lex’s sinfully soft couch, his head in Lex’s lap, eating pizza more with his TTK than his hands, and Lex running fingers through Kon’s hair? It was pretty much all Kon’s dreams come true. There was a part of him that was pretty sure he’d died and this was heaven, but – if you pardon the pun – he could live with that.

 

Even better, Lex didn’t ask Kon what it had been like. His giant brain knew everything it needed to from the rips in Kon’s jeans and the super suit he had on underneath. Kon didn’t know all the shit Lex had gone through in his life, but it had been enough that Lex recognized a fellow survivor when he saw one and wasn’t going to let interrogation get in the way of paternal comforting. (He also silently made the offer of a shower and clean clothes and didn’t speak when Kon chose to stay in uniform, just in case.)

 

Instead of pushing, Lex fed him, petted him, and on the giant screen that was his penthouse windows pulled up the last eight years of headlines from the world’s major news organizations. They were tiled out, different countries, different languages, contrasting viewpoints, and in true Lexian fashion, interspersed with his personal notes about reality instead of what the media was portraying. He’d set the program up to respond to the flickering of Kon’s eyes, and the part of Kon’s brain not wrapped up in reading figured the flashing of the lights as he supersped through the world’s recent history were the kind of thing that could start seizures.

 

Kon stopped a few times to review about shit like Brainiac and Darkseid. He kept up a mental catalogue on what information he’d brought back as useless since they’d already dealt with the problems and what looked like it should be shuffled to the top of his list. Kon didn’t stall until he hit the Gotham Gazette cover announcing Tim Drake as the CEO of Wayne Enterprises at the ripe old age of seventeen.

 

He didn’t need to read the list of qualifications Wayne Industries was touting to soothe investors, niether did he need to look at Lex’s notes about stock projections taking a slight dip then going up dramatically because, despite his age, the genius son of two magnates was better for business than Brucie Wayne. Nor did he need to look at the tabloid speculation that Tim, who had almost always lived down the road from Wayne Manor, was actually Bruce’s bastard son. Looking at the two of them standing next to one another in the announcement photo, Kon could see their argument.

 

No, all Kon was focused on was Tim’s photogenic smile: the one that he could see straight through to the sadness underneath.

 

Lex had determinedly not paused in his stroking while Kon analyzed the article with all his attention, but when Kon started to curse he couldn’t keep himself from asking, “What’s wrong?”

 

“Tim is my best friend.”

 

Lex paused, trying hard to be nice about what needed to be said, but Kon just rolled over and looked up at his dad. “It’s been eight years for Tim too.”

 

“Yeah, but he’s my best friend. I mean, in every universe he’s my best friend, Dad. _Every_ one. No matter what world I end up in, there’s a Tim Drake to fight for me, even when Batman pulls out the Kryptonite lasers. I know it’s been a long time since this Tim has seen me, but he’s Tim, which means he’s my best friend. But this time he’s _my_ Tim, which means he’s the love of my life.”

 

Lex actually nudged Kon upright at that one. “I’m going to need more context.”

 

“I didn’t know that I was in love with him before I went universe hopping. I was young, and stupid, and thought with my dick a lot of the time, and for being such fan-fucking-tastic scientists, the guys at Cadmus never really implanted any knowledge about sexuality beyond heterosexuality. Which, I mean, we had half your DNA, the oversight on someone’s part in assuming we’d be straight like Superman is so ridiculous I can’t even tell you. And that’s even ignoring how stupid they were to overlook the number of times Clark has been caught, _on camera_ , staring at Batman’s ass!”

 

Lex snickered.

 

“But yeah, I thought women were the only ones you could have sex with and my appreciation of Tim was purely aesthetic. Worse, I didn’t even notice that when I wasn’t thinking about sex, Tim was the one I’d always rather talk to, and it’s his opinion I wanted, and his was the heartbeat I listened to when I couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night. I thought all that warm, squishy stuff was just what you felt for your best friend.”

 

“It’s not like Clark and I gave you a lot of great examples on that front.”

 

“Yeah, you and Clark are idiots about this shit, but I could’ve talked to Diana, or even Grandma if I kept my gender vague.”

 

“She would probably have powered through and been fine with it. For all her objections to me and my lifestyle, the gender of the people I was fucking was never the problem.” Lex didn’t say anything about Kon needing to see her as soon as the Justice League verified he was him, which Kon noted but didn’t ask about just yet.

 

“Just the frequency?”

 

“And the quality of their characters.” Lex admitted.

 

“But sometimes that’s half the fun.” Kon leered and Lex laughed at an expression he was certain Kon had gotten from him.

 

“Anyway, it took me a couple of universes worth of Tims to figure out that I was stupid in love with him. Apparently when I’m going to get sucked away to a different universe and we’ve just saved the world from ending, Tim gets real declarative. I’ve heard other Tims confess their love for other Kons like a dozen times now.”

 

“Never for you?”

 

“ _Through_ me a couple of times, like when they’re not brave enough to tell their Kon directly. There have even been a few of them already in happy relationships, and more than a few whose Kons were like me and hadn’t figured it out yet so they were with somebody else.”

 

“And you consoled those Tims appropriately, I’m sure.”

 

“It was my civic duty after all.” Lex saluted him with a piece of pizza. “So, I’m not worried about it. Tim was my best friend before all this shit went down, and though I regret that I might have hurt him before, I’m kind of glad that I didn’t realize I was in love with him until after I’d left. At least this way he didn’t have to deal with losing his boyfriend along with all the other shit that you’ve shown me about what he went through.”

“While I applaud your optimism,” which meant Lex thought he was being reckless, but he’d see, “why were you upset about Tim being made CEO of Wayne Enterprises?”

 

Kon flopped back down to put his head on his dad’s lap. “Because Tim didn’t want it. He knew he was going to have to take over the company at some point, but wasn’t looking forward to it. Sometimes, when we were up in the middle of the night talking to each other, I could get him to talk about what he’d do if he wasn’t a superhero. Like, if the world was safe and he didn’t need to run around protecting Gotham from itself, what would he do? I never really could get Tim to admit anything since ‘there’s no point in talking about impossibilities, Kon’ but he admitted to me that Wayne Enterprises isn’t what he wanted for the rest of his life. But that’s what he’s been stuck doing almost since I left and that sucks.”

 

“I’d advise against turning up on Wayne Manor’s front step looking for him just yet.”

 

“I couldn’t do that _ever_. The Bat got graphic when he told me about the Kryptonite lasers he uses to keep uninvited metas out of his city.”

 

Lex stilled. “He threatened you with Kryptonite.”

 

Kon patted his dad’s knee. “Don’t worry about it. He threatened Clark with it all the time too. An almost invincible alien must be the worst nightmare come to life for a guy as paranoid as the Bat. He’s never pulled it out, he just likes me to know that it’s there.” Lex just hummed. “Seriously, Dad. I don’t how much you enjoy picking fights with the Bat usually, but this probably isn’t a good time for it.”

 

Lex conceded. “That doesn’t mean I’ll forget that he threatened my child with Kryptonite.”

 

“I didn’t think you would.”

 

Kon went back to scrolling through all the news he’d missed. He knew something big was coming up on the screens from the way Lex started to tense underneath him, but nothing could’ve quite prepared Kon for the Daily Planet front page photograph of a tiny Superboy alongside a smiling Superman. Lex had been thorough in all his personal research into the kid Clark had managed to make with Lois instead of forcing Kon to rely on the splash of perky news articles.

 

Kon didn’t ask questions, just floated off the coach and curled up in the air as he read the case report on Brainiac managing to strip Clark’s powers long enough for him to get his girlfriend pregnant, and then froze as his Luthor brain caught up and did the math. “Three months.”

 

Lex knew exactly what Kon was asking. “Yes.”

 

Yes, Clark had gone out and made himself a new kid three months after Kon had been murdered. Never before had Kon felt such empathy for Jason Todd and it was really irritating him.

 

Kon flipped through some more files, photos taken of the kid roaming around Metropolis with his hand in Lois’, going to the park on Clark’s shoulders, out causing trouble with a tiny Robin that a whole other deluge of information said was the Bat’s biological kid with a supervillain.

 

That was what made Kon’s brain trip over its own two feet. He went through every scrap of information on Damian Wayne, from the little bastard trying to kill Tim as a hello, to all the other shit the kid had gotten up to with the new Superboy by his side. And the Bat, the one who’d cautioned Clark about even letting Kon live because he wasn’t really a person and a Luthor besides, he had welcomed the little murdering al Ghul into his home and his mission. Apparently Supes and Bats were fine with half-villain kids when they’d gotten to stick their dick in somebody to get them. It was permission to force out the people who’d bled and nearly died for them in favor of the kids they wanted. It was like a fucking daytime drama and if this was the kind of hypocrisy Lex dealt with on a day-to-day level, Kon was starting to understand the path to supervillainy.

 

Kon checked over the kid’s birth certificate again and snorted. “Jonathan.”

 

“Clark’s father’s name.”

 

“I know. There are pictures of him up all over the farmhouse. Gran… Ma Kent used to tell me how much she thought he would’ve liked me.”

 

“He would’ve.”

 

“Don’t lie.”

 

“He would’ve lectured you constantly, and he’s the one you couldn’t have told about Tim, but you’re kind, and you’re hardworking, and you’ve got enough sense to know how to fix a tractor, which seemed to me to be the most important qualities to a man like Jonathan Kent.”

 

“I’m a Luthor.”

 

“He would have believed that Clark’s genetics were capable of drowning out mine.”

 

“Then how disappointed he would have been by what’s about to happen.” Kon let himself drop to his feet and the floor. “You got a safe I can stick my duffle in while I’m at the Watchtower?”

 

Lex waived down the hall and cracked open a small safe in the wall of what Kon knew damn well was supposed to be his bedroom. (It was similar style to the one he’d had before, but all grown up, including a significantly larger bed that Kon wasn’t going to be alone in for long.) Lex had noticed that even in the penthouse Kon hadn’t let his duffle get out of his immediate reach, so he altered the biometrics to make Kon the only person who could open it. He did so without a single word and left the room while Kon was adjusting the lock.

 

Some part of Kon’s brain thought Lex might be mad at him for running off so soon, but at the moment he was too pissed to worry about that. At least, Kon thought it was anger until he stepped into the living room to shout goodbye and found Lex in a jumpsuit with an oxygen helmet in hand.

 

“You’re coming with me?” Kon was so surprised he blurted out the obvious.

 

“If you think I’m going to leave you alone with an organization led by a man who thought it was all right to threaten a teenage boy with murder, you’re an idiot.”

 

“They’ll be pissed that you’re with me, and probably pissed that you brought me back.”

 

“Their anger cannot compare to the rage I’ve had in my heart since they nearly let you _die_.” Lex snapped in his supervillain voice. Kon drifted across the room and wrapped him in an unreciprocated hug for a long minute until Lex cleared his throat and went back to being the voice of reason. “The only thing I want to know is how many bridges you’re all right with burning while we’re up there.”

 

Kon thunked his head against the glass doors to the balcony. “It would probably be really stupid of me to make enemies of the entire Justice League, even if I never want to talk to them again.”

 

“There are useful members of the organization, yes. And no matter what your future plans, they would be easier if you weren’t on their watch list.”

 

“Right.” Kon straightened his shoulders and his uniform. “I’m going to be cool, and calm, and retired. I’m just up there to get an ID verification so I can go about my daily life without people panicking at the sight of me.”

 

“And Clark?”

 

Kon snorted. “Did you know Kara named me? Oracle came up with the name Conner just to fill in my civilian identity, but Kon-El, that came from Kara.”

 

“I’m disappointed but not surprised that Clark didn’t have the capacity to name you himself.”

 

“You know what Kon means in Kryptonian, Lex?”

 

“I’m afraid not. Despite my best efforts, my understanding of verbal Kryptonian is perfunctory at best.”

 

“Only enough to get yourself back to the airport if you were stranded on Krypton?”

 

“Something like that.” Which meant probably just enough to get the nuclear codes.

 

“Yeah, well, Kon means abomination.”

 

Lex froze. Kon knew that his Dad had done all sorts of terrible shit, but it was only in moments like these where Kon could see the incandescent rage in his eyes that he really got why Lex made people scared.

 

“I’m going to need you to repeat that.”

 

“Kryptonians hated clones. Genetic predetermination they were cool with, but clones were unacceptable. So at the beginning when the League thought I was Clark’s clone and he was panicking all over the place Kara named me Kon-El, which roughly translates to ‘The Abomination of House El.’ I get to be an abomination named by my father’s cousin, and this kid, Clark makes him three months after I’m dead and names him after his father when he couldn’t even hug me. So yeah, Clark can kiss my ass.”

 

Lex took Kon by the shoulder and gave him simultaneously the best and most awkward hug in the history of the world. They’d gotten pretty good at hugs before Kon had died and he figured getting back there would a matter of practice. “I can give you a new name,” Lex murmured in Kon’s ear.

 

“Nah, it’s mine now, no matter how they meant it. Kon Luthor has saved hundreds of worlds, anyone who thinks he’s an abomination is an idiot.”

 

“So long as you don’t think that about yourself.”

 

Kon gave him a smile that could light up the sun as he wrapped the short, tattered edge of his cape around his shoulders and pulled the folds over like a hood. “Don’t worry, Dad. I know exactly who I am.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Kon didn’t know if Lex had ever really been to the Watchtower before, but he looked so unimpressed by the satellite that Kon suspected he’d treated the place like a hotel the last time half the League had to trot off to save another alien species. Either way, Lex joined him at the oblong table where the League met and leaned back in the chair like he was at one of his own board meetings where he was ready to have people stumble over themselves to impress him. It was a pretty good approach considering they’d literally flown up to the Watchtower through the atmosphere and some junior member of the League that Kon didn’t recognize had let them in without any hesitation since, despite having Lex Luthor in his arms, Kon still had his old emergency communicator. The poor kid had panicked when he realized what he’d done – which Dad only made worse with his sprawl – and Kon just dished out Clark’s smile and asked if he could put the call out to Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter because he’d kind of like it on the record that he was himself.

 

Kon was cool with Wonder Woman taking a bit to get to the Watchtower since she had a ways to go, but it would’ve been nice if while they were waiting a whole bunch of the League hadn’t turned up to stare. Kon only recognized a third of them, but even they were more concerned with glowering at Lex than saying, ‘Hey Kon, glad you’re not dead’. They all stayed on the other side of the room, probably waiting for the hardcore League members to turn up and confirm that Kon was a clone created by Luthor to trick them all.

 

Martian Manhunter turned up first – probably not the first in the Watchtower, but the first upper League member to enter the room. Kon was pretty sure the big seven were all staring at him through surveillance cameras while they debated what to do. As it was, Manhunter took one step into the room and met Kon’s eyes before he froze in place.

 

“Hey J’onn.”

 

“Kon-El. You are… well.”

 

“Better than I ever thought I’d be again.” Kon kicked his feet off table and popped up from his slouch to stride across the room, taking no small amount of satisfaction from the way the other heroes tripped over themselves to get out of his way. “It’s nice to see you again, J’onn.” Kon held out his hand, no flinching and no fear at Martian Manhunter’s touch. (Physical contact didn’t make his telepathy stronger, but for some reason even people who ought to know better always seemed to think it did.)

 

With Kon’s hand in his and his mind laid wide open because Kon had nothing to be embarrassed about, J’onn ran his mental fingers through Kon’s mind just to be perfectly accurate. That was enough for him. “And you as well, Kon-El.”

 

“You’re sure it’s him?” Wonder Woman asked, and wow, she’d just popped up out of nowhere.

 

“As sure as I am capable of being.”

 

Kon stayed right where he was, his hand still encased in Manhunter’s probably so he could check and re-check before they released a half Kryptonian back into the wild. Kon let him and held out his free left hand to Wonder Woman. She started at him for a long moment, no trace of the threat analysis that there should’ve been, and Kon nodded at her lasso. “You can check me too if you want.”

 

“All my lasso will tell is that you believe you’re the boy we lost.”

 

Kon shrugged. “It’s just a little something extra if you’d like. Or you can look at the test results Dad took to make sure I was his Kon.”

 

“Atom.” Wonder Woman snapped, and one of the heroes broke away from their huddle and took the stack of papers and jump drive of data Lex had pulled out of nowhere. Any League member with anything resembling a science background spread the papers over the table and started going through them, though Kon was a little more concerned with Wonder Woman looping her lasso around his wrist and asking, “Who are you?”

 

“Kon Luthor, formerly known as Superboy, resident of this universe until Superboy Prime beat the shit out of me and I got shuffled off to another one.”

 

“Where’d the uniform come from?”

 

Good to know that the Flash was still himself, no matter the world. He’d popped up from wherever the heavies had been hiding and _that_ was the first thing he worried himself with. “The Superman from my 62nd earth. I’d picked up another set of jeans and a generic Super t-shirt, but they got the shit torn out them by that universe’s Mongul and that Supes thought I needed something more durable.”

 

“Kon,” sweet Diana had tears in her eyes and she ran fingers through his hair. “What happened?

 

Kon slid out from underneath her touch. “Does it matter?”

 

“Of course it does.”

 

“You know that I’m me, nothing else matters.”

 

“You were dead and now you’re not, kid. That’s a big deal.” Flash objected.

 

“Obviously not big enough.”

 

“Bruce is sitting on him.” Diana knew what Kon was really saying.

 

“The Bat must’ve put on a hell of a lot of weight.”

 

“Kon…”

 

Kon heard Clark coming, because unlike Diana, he’d never figured out subtlety. That sound meant that when he burst through the door Kon managed to side-step him before he got wrapped up in a hug he didn’t really want. “Hey, Clark.”

 

Diana grabbed Clark’s arm before he could try for a hug again. “Hey? Are you… _Kon_.”

 

“What about you, Clark? Are your senses telling them that I’m not me?”

 

“No. You’re you.” Clark’s voice broke.

 

“Superman’s paternal opinion on the matter isn’t enough of a confirmation.” And there was Batman.

 

“Then it’s a good thing you’ve got me checked over by someone else.”

 

“The Lasso of Truth is only a barometer of truth as you perceive it.”

 

“Which is why Manhunter has been poking around my brain for the last five minutes. And the LexCorp scientists who found me by tracing the signature of this universe that I’ve been putting off through the multiverse, and Atom and a bunch of other people who don’t understand temporal physics are over there reviewing their science and agreeing that I’m me.”  

 

“Why are you in such a rush?”

 

“Because I thought it’d be good to get my identity confirmed before I took a nap. And you’re holding up part one of that plan.”

 

Clark approached him again and Kon slid out of the way to the pointed silence of the entire room.

 

“You can understand why we have points of concern.” Bruce said.

 

“I have no concerns,” Diana objected. “But I would like to know what happened. You _died_ , Kon-El.”

 

“Not dead.” With a flick of his wrist, Kon used his TTK to show a 3D web. “This is the multiverse.” Atom and half a dozen of the more science-oriented members of the League nearly started vibrating. “An artistic representation of the multiverse,” Kon corrected. “Say this is the location of our universe.” One of the intersections lit up. “Everything was nice and balanced between the threads, despite whatever insanity was going on in each individual universe, so everything was stable.

 

“But when Prime showed up, he threw that balance all to hell.” The light brightened. “It was 200% of Superboy in one place and 0% someplace else instead of an even 100% across the board, and nature doesn’t like imbalance. As near as anybody that I’ve talked to has been able to figure, the universe was trying to kick one of us out the entire time Prime was here. So when Prime beat me to almost death, maybe all the way to death, I was weak enough for the universe to shuffle me off someplace else.” The light representing their universe went along the string to another intersection.

 

“Only, there was a Superboy there too. It was fine at the beginning since I was like 1% Superboy and the other universe’s me was only at like 50%, but once we both healed up, I got shuffled along again.” The light went to another intersection.

 

“Most of the time the universe tried to achieve balance by putting me in a new universe where the other Superboy was at way less 100%. And for a Kryptonian to end up at less than 100% means the universe, that asshole, kept dropping me off in places where the world was ending. I’ve squared off against fourteen Braniacs, half a dozen Zods, and one particularly terrifying Killer Croc, amongst others. I’ve spent most of the last decade being shoved from world-ending disaster to world-ending disaster and I’m tired. So yeah Bat, I want a nap.”

 

“And then what?”

 

“Then?” Kon dissolved the map with a snap of his fingers. “I really fucking want shave ice and a beach. I haven’t been to Hawaii since you guys dragged me back to civilization the first time and I think I’d like to go.”

 

“Would you be all right with being debriefed before you retreat to the beach?” Diana asked.

 

“Or I can do it on the beach!” Flash added.

 

“Debrief about what?”

 

“They’re alternate universes filled with potentially useful information.” The Bat pointed out in a stupidly reasonable tone.

 

“Yeah, all right, but I’m going to nap before I get back to you about the timing on that.”

 

“We don’t want to lose any potentially pertinent information.”

 

“I have a few hard drives with information from when I could talk the locals into sharing it with me. Once I’ve had a chance to go through it, I’ll pass it on.”

 

“Why do you need to sort it?” Kon was starting to get pissed at the Bat.

 

“Because there’s some shit I have that won’t help you with the mission and doesn’t need to get shared.”

 

“Like what?”

 

Since the Bat obviously didn’t understand the meaning of the word privacy, Kon got blunt. “Like my half-sister that Supes had with Wonder Woman.”

 

“What?” Hey, now it looked like Clark was going to actually contribute something to the conversation.

 

“See, some shit is personal. Either way,” Kon stepped towards the door, “I’ll pass on the relevant stuff to you sometime after I’ve had my nap.”

 

“And all of it will get getting filtered through Luthor before we get our hands on it?” Kon remembered why he didn’t really want Clark adding to the conversation.

 

“I’ll get myself a computer that’s never touched the internet to scroll through the data before uploading, all right?”

 

“One that doesn’t come from LexCorp.”

 

“It shouldn’t be anywhere near him.” Clark had at least tried to be reasonable, and now the Bat wanted Kon to sully the penthouse with Wayne Tech.

 

“Well, it’s going to be near him so you’re just going to have to take a deep breath and learn how to be okay with that.”

 

“Kon!” Clark objected.

 

“Nope. I’m tired and I’m going to take a nap and since I’m the one who got thrown through the multiverse, I’m the one who gets to decide where the information goes.”

 

“Take your time.” Diana shut them all down. “We can debrief you when you’re ready to come back to work.”

 

Kon stopped his walk for the door and sighed before facing her. “Yeah, I don’t know about that.”

 

“What do you mean?” Clark stiffened.

 

“I think I might be done with super-heroing.”

 

“What?”

 

“Kal-El, let him take some time. If you force him at this moment then of course he’s going to retire. And if after he’s recovered he still wants to be done, that’s his own decision and we will support it.” Diana was the best. It was a pity Clark didn’t listen.

 

“Where are you going to go?” Clark got between him and the door and Kon stepped around him.

 

“Home.”

 

“The farm?”

 

“Why in the hell would I go to the farm? I’m going to the penthouse.”

 

“But…”

 

Kon planted his feet and looked Clark dead in the eye. “Lex Luthor is my dad. He spent years trying to come up with a way to get me back, to punch a hole in the multiverse so I could come home. And you, what are you going to do? Take me back to your apartment to your wife and the human-Kryptonian half-breed that you _don’t_ think is an abomination?” Clark flinched like Kon had actually managed to land a blow.

 

“Hey, now,” Flash interrupted. “I know tensions are running a little bit high, but lets not be throwing around the A word.”

 

“I’m not the one who put it out there in the first place. I’m not the one who let me be _named_ as an abomination.” Kon stormed away, but there was enough of him that was made up of Clark that he couldn’t walk away from a fight. “You know, in some of the universes you called me your son? You loved me. And I’ll admit, it took me three of those universes to accept that you hate me because you’re messed up, not because there’s anything wrong with me. Yeah, I’m a clone, and yeah, I died a couple times and the universe has been trying to scrape me off like I’m gum on the bottom of its shoe, but I’m not the one who was messed up here. So, you have a nice day. I’m Kon Luthor and I’m gonna go home and take a nap.”

 

While Kon had ben spitting rage at Clark, Lex had crossed the room and had a hand on his shoulder before he got into a fistfight in the damn Watchtower.

 

Lex’s gentle pressure nudged him towards the door and Clark’s melancholy voice followed. “So Conner Kent really is dead.”

 

Kon didn’t stop and didn’t glance over his shoulder. “Who are you kidding? Conner Kent never existed in the first place.”

 

The moment the door whisked shut behind them, Kon grabbed Lex and got the hell out of there. He had sense enough to check Lex’s helmet before bursting into the blackness of space, but they were back to LexCorp Towers in the space of three heartbeats. Kon gave Lex back his feet and his dignity, debated the value of venting his temper on tree stumps the way he used to, and decided to embrace new learning instead.

 

There had been a Lex several years ago who’d been in love with Clark since he was sixteen. (They’d had a battle of raised eyebrows to get more information than that, and Kon had lost.) After years of watching teenage Clark’s powers come into being and coaching him through not accidentally destroying the town, that Lex had set Kon down and, in what little time they’d had, taught this other version of his son the basics of true control. Kon had remembered those lessons – and the hugs, and the going flying side by side with his dad, and playing games with his younger siblings, each of them half Clark and half Lex. So now, instead of slipping back into the same boy he was when he’d left this universe, Kon chose to act like the man he’d become.

 

So, Kon started shucking off clothes on the rooftop garden above his father’s apartment. Lex flinched at the pile, and Kon his dad wasn’t enough of a hypocrite to care about the nudity. “You can’t get any universe-travelling particulates off them anyway, Dad.”

 

“You don’t know that. I have very good scientists working for me.”

 

“And how many of those scientists have you had to threaten out of turning into supervillains?”

 

“None.” Kon’s eyebrow went up. “I don’t waste time threatening. Anyone who started down the path of trying to punch a hole in the universe has been disposed of.”

 

Kon probably ought to feel something other than pride about that, both at Lex’s efficiency and that Lex thought Kon was worth the risk. “But that’s not every scientist in the world who would accidentally rip a hole in the multiverse because they just wanted to know a little more and could figure it out from my laundry.”

 

“It is a problem.” Lex still had his eyes on the pile of clothes, every bit of which had come from who knew how many different universes. Despite knowing how big a problem it could be, years of running his own company hadn’t changed the fact that Lex was still a scientist at heart. Kon stepped in between his Dad and the clothes, forcibly pulling him out of the longing stare. He rapidly blinked to catch up. “I’m fine.”

 

“Sure you are.”

 

Kon said it with a laugh, certain that _Lex_ was the one who was going to accidentally rip a hole to another universe and Kon was going to have to fix it. Lex’s expression smoothed out and he wrapped a hand around the back of Kon’s neck to pull him close and press their foreheads together. “I am. I’m better than I’ve been in a long time.”

 

“Me too.”

 

“Don’t do that to me again.”

 

“Love you too, Dad.”

 

“So,” Lex pulled back and straightened his cuffs. “Are you off to Wayne Manor or the Titans Tower?”

 

“Neither.”

 

“I assumed you were just changing into clothes that weren’t time-travelling hobo chic so you could make a better re-impression.”

 

“Nope. I meant what I said to Wonder Woman. I’m going sit here in the sunshine.”

 

“That’s… unexpected.”

 

“Thank you. I’m pissed off enough to get into a fight with the Bat’s Kryptonite guns, if he even still has them—”

 

“I’m sure he does but they’re not active. Jon and Damien are friends and he often turns up in Gotham.”

 

“Well… that’s just a punch in the teeth, isn’t it?”

 

“Only if you let it be. Otherwise it’s a hole in his system that you can use as an exploitable resource.”

 

“And that amount of irony never hurt anyone.”

 

“Not severely anyway. Why aren’t you hunting Tim down? Do you think that just because you’re making the Bat nervous—”

 

“I’ve always made the Bat twitchy when it comes to Tim. I remember him giving Clark lectures about being a better dad but then turning around and threatening to blast me out of the sky when I spent too much time in Gotham.”

 

“I would say that his ability for hypocrisy is a sign of his mental instability, but that’s just humanity. Why aren’t you going after him?”

 

“Well one, because if I outplay the guns then the Bat will know I can and that resource won’t be there to exploit when I actually need it later. Two, because I _could_ outplay the guns and I’d rather the League not pick up on how much better my control has gotten. Three, there was another version of you that taught me to breath deep and not wreck things just because I’m angry. Four, Tim might be leading a board meeting right now for all I know, Dad.” Kon kicked off his boots. “Or he might be in the middle of hunting down a bad guy, or napping so he can go out and kick bad guy ass. And five, on the off chance he’s with the Titans, that will turn into a huge Titan puppy pile and I can’t declare my undying love in one of those.”

 

“So you’re not pouting on my roof because you think the Bat is going to tell Tim you’re dangerous and order him not to talk to you.”

 

“The Bat will tell Tim I’m dangerous no matter what. I’m just going to give Tim a chance to find out my circumstances through _all_ the channels, not just the Bat one. Then he can decide what he wants to do with that information.”

 

Lex cocked his head. “Kon… are you waiting for Tim to come to you?”

 

“It’s less a waiting and more a give the guy a few hours to find out through less traumatizing means than me turning up outside his boardroom in time-travelling hobo chic.”

 

“And at the same time you’ll be finding out if Tim will come to you the moment he learns you’re back, or if he’ll take a few days to get his own affairs settled.”

 

Kon shrugged. “A guy needs a barometer to judge just how much seducing he’s got to do to win over the man he loves.”

 

“And your excuse if Tim wants to know why you didn’t come to see him?”

 

“I came through a portal in the multiverse this morning. I needed a nap.” Lex grimaced. “Not good enough?”

 

“Not to ease the path of seduction, no.”

 

“How about focusing on how discombobulated the League seemed to be and I didn’t want to get myself shot by turning up anyplace they thought I would be infringing?”

 

“Not bad. Plausibility will be in the delivery.”

 

“Gotcha. Now Dad,” Kon peeled off the top half of his uniform down to his waist. “Legitimately, I’m going to take a nap in the sunshine.”

 

“I’m going to go reestablish your identity.”

 

“Have fun threatening governments and whatever you’re going to do to Kara don’t let it be traceable back to you.”

 

“Don’t insult me.”

 

Though Kon desperately wanted to jump into the sky and take off for Gotham – maybe letting wind friction drag off the remainder of his uniform so his perfect nudity might lure Tim in – Kon stayed. He sprawled out on the lounge beneath one of the palm trees that he was pretty sure Lex had defied nature to make grow just so Kon could feel more at home. Convincing Lex of the rightness of a plan Kon had only been half sure about at the time had brought Kon around to believe in it himself. Deep, meditative breathing in his home sunshine wasn’t as good as sex, but it was still pretty damn good.

 

(Kon made future sex with Tim in this very spot one of his life goals. The thought of being sprawled back on this chair with the sunshine on his face and Tim bouncing his lap was the stuff dreams were made of. The pure glow of the Metropolis sun glinting off his hair and off his sweaty, fully-grown body, that was good.

 

(Oh! Or, Tim underneath him, the sun on Kon’s back as he thrust lazy and steady into Tim, who writhed and whined underneath him because Kon refused to give it to him fast.

 

(Yeah, both. Both was good.)

 

Mostly asleep on the patio furniture as Kon was – not fully asleep since he was half hard – Kon had no way of knowing that information about his return didn’t take the winding path from the League, to the Titans, to Tim that he’d been expecting. Instead, it went straight from Wonder Woman to Tim Drake because the world was a little bit different than Kon remembered it being. (Or rather, it went from Kon’s mind to Martian Manhunter’s, then from Manhunter’s questioning lips to Wonder Woman’s tender heart, ending up with complete documentation on Tim Drake’s communicator.)

 

Some things, however, were exactly the same. While Tim took a few minutes for his shaking hands to scroll through the Justice League’s verification that Kon-El had returned to them, the moment he allowed himself to believe, he called Bart and told the speedster to get his ass to Gotham right now. Bart spent about ten seconds dumbfounded before he sped through the information on Tim’s computer and demanded to know where Kon was. In a matter of moments they were out of Gotham and up the side of LexCorp Towers where whatever lasers were meant to take down invading superheroes were conveniently turned off.

 

For one brief, terrible moment Tim stood there and hated Kon. It wasn’t fair to have him come back from the dead after eight years and be confronted with the first sight of him sprawled out half dressed in the sunshine, like a golden god taking a break from legend. It was the worst of Tim’s subconscious come to life just to torture him.

 

Seeing Kon again was a strange combination of lust and heartbreak that Tim had never experienced before. Kon was so beautiful that if Tim had met him on a beach or at a bar, he would’ve wanted to climb straight over the end of the lounge and settle himself in Kon’s lap. Tim Drake-Wayne would never have been able to do that since Brucie had the market cornered on outlandish behavior, but it would have been a good idle fantasy for later.

 

But there could be no casual appreciation of Kon because it was still _Kon_.

 

This was a fully-grown man wearing Kon’s face, but not. And wearing Kon’s suit, but not. And it was Kon’s face, but not Kon’s body.

 

But… it _was_ Kon’s body, just not the one Tim remembered. Not the one he dreamed about. (If Tim hadn’t spent a large amount of time understanding human psychology he would have felt a bit skeevy about how he still dreamt of Kon as the boy he’d been when he died. Tim was always young too, still children who thought they were so wise that death could be avoided, but was a worthy sacrifice to save the world.)

 

When Tim got drunk and felt like torturing himself he sometimes tried to imagine what Kon would have been like if he’d had the chance to grow like Tim had. Kon would still be wider and taller than Tim could ever achieve, but what would his face have settled into? What would his smile have looked like? And yes, amongst all the thousand other little details. Tim wondered what sort of man Kon would have become, both metaphorically and literally.

 

So to have Kon here, a little different than Tim had imagined, but still there, alive and breathing, and napping like they were teenagers at Titans Tower expecting no callout, Tim was caught between a thousand memories and all this glorious possibility he had never before contemplated.

 

It wasn’t Clark’s senses that woke Kon, but a Luthor’s awareness of when he was being watched. Kon stretched like a cat, showing off all that flawless musculature to greatest effect, dragging his ribs up and away from the line of his uniform and showing of the deep V of his iliac crest. Tim wanted to lick it. And then he wanted to punch Kon in the face because there was no way he ought to be slowly blinking his eyes open like the weight of Tim’s stare had just woken him up.

 

When Kon finally opened his eyes all the way he stiffened and then popped upright, like he hadn’t realized they were there all the while. (Kon was playing dumb, like he always used to do and somehow everyone up to and including Batman believed. Tim didn’t know if he wanted to kiss him or punch him for the rouse.)

 

“Holy shit, you two, I thought it would be days before I got to see you.”

 

Before Bart could buzz over and nearly knock Kon off the roof in his enthusiasm, Tim decided to begin as he meant to go on and refuse to tolerate any of this shit.

 

“Bart, we’re going to need a minute.”

 

Bart vibrated in that way Tim found so usefully honest. “But…”

 

“I’ll call you when we’re done, but I have to yell at Kon now and I can’t have you trying to stop me.”

 

“You can’t yell at him for sort of dying, Tim.”

 

“It’s okay, Bart. Tim can yell at me for whatever he wants.”

 

And there… there was heat in Kon’s look. It was a strange amalgamation of the look Kon used to get when he was hitting on Cassie, plus how Luthor looked when he took people to bed, and a hint of the red that only happened in Clark’s eyes. Tim’s heart ached at all he had missed in knowing how that expression had evolved, knowing which Clark and which Lex he had picked it up from, or if genetics stepped in and it had evolved all on its own.

 

Bart glanced between the two of them and then put on the superspeed to give Kon a hug that shoved his chair back a few feet. Kon caught Bart before he could dash away and gave him enough of a squeeze that Bart squeaked. Then Bart murmured something in Kon’s ear too fast for Tim to hear and then sped off in a breeze, likely just to change out of his costume and grab some pizza around the corner because it really was miserably unfair of Tim to ask Bart to leave them alone. Kon had been Bart’s best friend too, but Tim… he had to get this done before he could breathe.

 

“So, did you watch video of my explanation on the Watchtower or do you want me to do it again to satisfy the scientist in you?”

 

“I’m going to want your explanation, plus all the stuff you left out, plus all of the scientific information on the hard drives, plus all of Luthor’s information, and access to his scientists.”

 

“Not the other stuff on the hard drives?”

 

“I trust your opinion that some things are better left unknown and if that’s not a burden you want to share, I’ll try and be supportive.”

 

“Until I mention something and your curiosity won’t let you get away without knowing the whole story.”

 

“I’m not fifteen anymore. I’ve learned patience.”

 

“That’s going to be a hell of a lot of fun to play with.”

 

Tim blushed. Kon gave him a lecherous grin that wouldn’t have been out of place on Luthor’s face, but then he blushed himself and it faded to something more like his own. “You believe I’m me, then?”

 

“All the science says so and the members of the Justice League concur.”

 

“Yeah, but that’s not really what I’m talking about. Do you _believe_ it?”

 

“Is that why you’re still in the chair and haven’t given me a hug yet?”

 

“You didn’t used to like it when I dished out the hugs. You used to flinch when you were the hugee instead of the huger. Though now you’re staring at me like I’m an idiot for not thinking that maybe things might have changed or you might like the opportunity to refuse a hug instead of me making you be the sentimental one.”

 

“Well, I wouldn’t obj—”

 

Kon had his arms around Tim before his eyes could register the motion. Somehow one arm had gotten around his shoulders and another under his ass because Tim’s legs had made their own way around Kon’s hips. That was less important though, because Kon had his face buried in Tim’s hair and was choking back sobs as he breathed Tim in.

 

“I believe it’s you, Kon. I didn’t doubt it before but now I know for sure. I know what your hugs feel like.”

 

“I missed you so fucking much, Tim.”

 

“Weren’t there other me’s out there with you?”

 

“Every universe had a Tim, but they weren’t _my_ Tim. I made friends with them all because I’ve got to look out for every Tim ever, but they weren’t _mine_.”

 

Tim gulped and maybe he rubbed his cheek against Kon’s hair, still just as soft as he remembered it being in defiance of the laws of physics. “Is that how you think of me? Yours?”

 

“I’d say I’m sorry that I didn’t figure it out before I got swept into the other universe, but I’m grateful that you didn’t have to worry about losing a boyfriend along with everything else.”

 

“It couldn’t have hurt worse than losing my best friend.”

 

“I’m…. yours too, then?”

 

Tim blushed and shimmied down. “We should be getting to know one another again. It’s been years since I’ve seen you and I haven’t had any Kon’s to help me through the withdrawal. You’ve been through a lot, and I’ve been through a lot, and we should be attempting to recover before we start a relationship.”

 

“That is absolutely that smart thing to do.”

 

Kon’s words said yes, but his arms found their way back around Tim’s body, and he told Kon so.

 

“I said it was smart, not that I agreed with you.”

 

“And what plan do you have, wonder boy?”

 

“Plan might be a little too much. I’ve got some dreams, and right now they involve the fact that there’s a balcony right below us that leads into my room. I think we should start getting to know one another in an entirely new way than we did at fifteen. Begin as we mean to go on, like grownups, you know?”

 

“Meaning sex.”

 

“Meaning sex, dinner, cuddling, all those stories about what we missed, and more sex, all done from the safety of Lex’s penthouse instead of what we’re about four seconds away from doing out here on the roof.” Tim buried his face in Kon’s neck. “Not that I want to take rooftop sex off the table entirely, just maybe not when I’m pretty sure I’m being watched by the Justice League and, you know, our first time.”

 

“So, you’re envisioning sex as a permanent fixture in our relationship.”

 

“I’m envisioning a relationship as a permanent part of our relationship. I wouldn’t object to sex.”

 

Tim leaned in and kissed him, and really, Kon was pretty damn proud of himself for getting them into his bed without flying them into a wall.

 


End file.
